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Technology
The totality of means employed by man in his activities and created to carry out the processes of production and to satisfy the nonproduction needs of society. Technology embodies the knowledge and experience accumulated in the development of social production. Its chief goal is the partial or total replacement of man’s productive functions in order to ease the burden of labor and increase labor’s productivity. Based on man’s understanding of the laws of nature, technology makes it possible to effect fundamental increases in the efficiency of human labor and to enlarge human capacities for useful labor. It provides the means for effective, integrated use of natural resources and makes it possible to harness the natural wealth of the earth, the oceans, the atmosphere, and space. The Russian term tekhnika is also used to describe a complex of skills and methods used in some craft or art, for example, record keeping, dancing, or piano playing. In this sense it corresponds to the English word “technique.” As production expands and new instruments of labor are created, technology frees man from the performance of various production functions requiring both physical and mental labor. Technology is used for many purposes: to act on the objects of labor in the creation of material and cultural values; to obtain, transmit, and convert energy; to study the laws of natural and social development; to provide transportation and communication; to gather, store, process, and transmit information; to improve everyday life; to provide for social government; and to provide for national defense and to wage war. Depending on its purpose, technology is classified as production technology, including power-engineering technology, and nonproduction technology, which serves everyday life, scientific research, education, culture, military affairs, and medicine. In its wide range of applications, production technology constitutes the bulk of existing technical means—machines, mechanisms, tools, control equipment for machines and production processes, buildings and other structures used for production, roads, bridges, canals, and means of transportation and communication. The most active sector of production technology is machinery, which can be subdivided into several basic groups: production machinery, for metalworking, construction, mining, metallurgy, agriculture, textile production, food processing, and papermaking; transportation machinery, including motor vehicles, diesel and electric locomotives, airplanes, and motor ships; machinery for moving or handling materials, for example, conveyors, elevators, cranes, and hoists; monitoring and control machinery and computers, including machines for centralized monitoring and control and for data processing; and power-engineering machinery, such as electric machines, internal-combustion engines, and turbines. Among modern technical means of production, the highest importance is attached to power-engineering technology, used in obtaining and converting energy. The principal sectors of nonproduction technology are public and domestic technology (municipal maintenance machinery, laundry machines, cooking appliances, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, television sets, and tape recorders); transportation technology (passenger cars, motorcycles, motor scooters, and bicycles); sports technology (racing cars, yachts, and gymnastics equipment); and educational and cultural technology (technical teaching aids, theatrical scenery, and motion-picture and still cameras). Military technology comprises a special group of non-production means. Its purpose is to equip armed forces with offensive and defensive weapons, such as tanks, conventional and rocket artillery, aircraft, surface vessels, and submarines. No universal classification system for technology has yet been devised. Technology is most often classified according to the area of production involved, for example, industrial technology, transportation technology, and agricultural technology, or according to particular structural subdivisions of industry, for example, aircraft technology and the technology of land reclamation. In some cases, classification is based on the natural science on which a particular sector is based, for example, nuclear technology, refrigeration technology, and computer technology. ''Principal stages of technological development Historically, technology has passed through a lengthy process of development—from the crude instruments of primitive man to the most complex automated devices of modern industry. An especially important role in the development of social production was played by machines designed to replace human labor in performing certain production and transportation functions. The invention of spinning jennies and the multipurpose steam engine initiated the industrial revolution in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, marking the transition from manual to machine production. The improved steam engine could be used to drive not just one but many machines. This was a precondition for the introduction for various transfer devices, which in many cases formed a complicated mechanical system. In describing the evolution of the mechanical means of labor, namely, instruments and machines, which constitute the most important part of technology, K. Marx gave the following outline of development: “Simple tools, the accumulation of tools, composite tools; the driving of a composite tool by hand, the driving of tools by natural forces; machines; systems of machines having one engine; and systems of machines having an automatic engine. This is the progress of machinery” (''Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 4, p. 156). Large-scale industry owed its development to its most characteristic means of production—the machine. Initially, machine tools, steam engines, and other machines were made individually by skilled workers on a cottage-industry scale. Later, drive mechanisms, transfer devices, and machines to replace workers increased in size and became more complex. New materials appeared that were difficult to work. These changes gave rise to an objective need for mass production and the use of machinery in industry. By introducing the production of machines by machines, large-scale capitalist industry created an adequate technical base. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the technical means of labor penetrated individual elements of production processes and consistently took over entire branches of industry, replacing traditional forms of production based on manual labor and craft technology (see''HANDICRAFTS). Machine production became extremely widespread in all industrially developed countries of the world. With the development of large-scale industry, designs were improved and the capacities and productivity of technical devices increased. In the late 19th century the steam engine was gradually supplanted by the more economical and compact internal-combustion engine, which allowed new types of machinery to be produced, for example, motor vehicles, tractors, excavators, airplanes, and motor ships. New energy-conversion techniques were found, based on the use of steam turbines and hydrotur-bines connected to electric power generators. In the first half of the 20th century, the perfected electric motor found universal application as a group or individual drive mechanism for such equipment as metal-cutting and woodworking machine tools, textile machinery, mining machinery, hoisting and transport machinery, and rolling mills. In a machine system, the object of labor passes consecutively through a series of partial and interrelated processes, which are performed by a variety of different machines that complement one another. In its most developed form, a machine system creates the preconditions for continuous production-line manufacturing and for the increasingly wide introduction of automated machines designed to replace human labor. Such machines independently and without direct human intervention perform all basic and auxiliary operations, such as changing speeds and feeds, reversing, positioning objects and removing them after processing, and applying and removing working elements. Each automated machine is a complex aggregate containing one or several motors, several transfer devices, several working elements, and special equipment for monitoring, control, and regulation. In the process of the automation of production, automated machines are created that may have dozens of working elements that simultaneously perform highly complex production operations. The technology of automation frees man for arduous labor in the performance of labor-intensive functions, significantly increases labor productivity, and ensures high quality while maintaining uniformity, accuracy, and constant specifications for the goods produced. Basic indexes of technology In technology—whether currently in use or just being introduced—the most important indexes are productivity, reliability, and economy of operation. The productivity of technology is determined by the quantity of goods that can be produced, processed, or shipped per unit time. The reliability of technology or technical means is characterized by the capacity to produce goods of a specified quality without interruption and in the desired quantity or by the capacity to fulfill a production function within a specified time. The life of production equipment depends not only on the specific qualities and conditions of use of the individual technical means but also on the rate of technical progress, which determines the obsolescence of technology. The rate of technical progress limits the useful life of a machine or mechanism to the amount of time required for more developed technology to appear. Economy of operation is determined by the consumption of raw and other materials, fuel, and power and by the cost of auxiliary facilities necessary for normal operations, such as building foundations and production areas. The productivity, reliability, and economy of operation can be improved by modernization, that is, by perfecting the design of the working elements, drives, and transfer devices and by automating operational processes. Timely modernization makes it possible to extend the useful life of a given technology, ensuring that the technology will continue meeting the demands of scientific and technical progress. Besides conforming the production indexes listed above, modern technology must satisfy the requirements of ergonomics, industrial design, and ecology. Ergonomie criteria specify that the operation of technical systems must correspond to the physiological and neuropsychological functions of workers. The optimum combination of human abilities and technical capacities in a man-machine system substantially increases production efficiency. Industrial design defines the principal requirements and trends in the use of technology to create a harmonious material environment for the purpose of improving the conditions of labor, daily life, and leisure. With the expanding scale of technical progress and the rise and development of new areas of technology, the importance of ecological factors is constantly increasing. These factors are associated with the conservation and improvement of the natural environment, the creation of optimum conditions for human activity, and the prevention of the undesirable or harmful effects of production technology and energy-related technology on the earth’s mineral resources, atmosphere, flora, and fauna. Thus, the functioning of modern technology and the creation of new types of technology makes it necessary to take the human factor into account. The mechanization and power available per worker are important in assessing the application of technology in various sectors of the national economy and the impact of technology on the productivity of social labor. The mechanization available per worker is measured by the value of the machines and mechanisms used in production per worker; the power available per worker is a function of the amount of mechanical and electrical energy used in the production process per man-hour or per worker. Substantial growth in labor productivity in the Soviet economy has been achieved primarily through intensive growth of these two indexes and through the application of new technology in production. In construction, for example, the mechanization available per worker increased by a factor of 13.6 between 1940 and 1973, permitting a more than fivefold increase in labor productivity. Development pattern of technology The achievement of technical progress depends primarily on the degree to which industry, construction, agriculture, and transportation are equipped with the most developed means to mechanize and automate production processes. A significant role is also played by the provision of advanced equipment to the nonproduction sectors of the economy—the service and domestic sectors. The increased output of the basic technical means of production and the development of power-engineering and domestic technology in the USSR is shown by the data in Table 1. Production has developed most intensively in the areas of technology that contribute to the technical re-equipment of the leading branches of heavy industry; these include machine building for the manufacture of power machinery, electrical equipment, machine tools, mining and chemical machine building, instrumentation, and production of automation, construction, hoisting, and transportation equipment. Production in agricultural technology is also characterized by high growth rates, for example, in the production of tractors, harvesters, fodder-processing machinery, transplanting machinery, and self-propelled chassis. The production of electrical household appliances also shows high growth rates. The present period of technological development is characterized by an ever increasing rate of modernization and replacement of the technical means of production, by the creation of a wide range of new machines, mechanisms, equipment, and instruments, by maximum standardization of products, and hy intensive development of electronics, radio engineering, chemical technology, aerospace technology, nuclear technology, automated regulation and control systems, laser technology, and computer technology. A major development pattern in the technology of the second half of the 20th century is the production of integrated machinery, in which various aggregates, operating consecutively in the production process, automatically work on the object of labor. The development of integrated machinery and the growth of automation in industry have led to the creation of automatic transfer lines and automated shops and plants with the highest possible productivity ratings. A typical development pattern in technology is the use of highly efficient technical means to ease mental labor and increase productivity; such technology is now being applied. Advances in electronics, cybernetics, and computer science have created the preconditions for transferring administrative and logical functions, that is, the functions of human intellectual work, from human beings to machines. The use of monitoring and control machines, data-processing equipment, and computers optimizes planning and management in industry, increases the productivity of mental labor, frees man from the performance of many labor-intensive calculations, and reduces expenditures for administrative and managerial equipment. The production and use of office equipment and supplies have expanded; such expansion simplifies record keeping and increases the efficiency of design, engineering, and economic-planning organizations. Of special importance are the particular technical means that can replace human beings in the performance of exhausting or unhealthful operations (''see''ROBOT). One of the special features of modern technology is the rapid—sometimes extremely rapid—penetration of new technology into many branches of production and science, including areas where applications are difficult to predict. One example is the progress in laser technology over a period of less than two decades (''see''QUANTUM ELECTRONICS and LASER TECHNOLOGY). Interrelation of science and technology The development of technology through wide application of scientific knowledge is a prime condition for scientific and technical progress. In the past, technology represented primarily the accumulation of empirical knowledge and experience and the embodiment of this knowledge and experience in the instruments of labor. Today, scientific knowledge is increasingly embodied in technology. The steam engine was constructed on an empirical basis, and for half a century its theory was outdistanced by its technology. The most important technological achievements of the modern period have been the result of major scientific discoveries (''see''SCIENCE). It is no longer possible through purely empirical means to produce such technical means of production as nuclear reactors, lasers, and computers. These can only be created after the physical, chemical, and other phenomena and processes that underlie their operation have been studied and fully understood. The needs of industry itself require the preliminary study, theoretical generalization, and analysis of these phenomena, as well as the ability to predict the peculiarities of such phenomena under conditions not yet studied. Thus, an indispensable condition for the development of technology and, consequently, of material production is that science develop in advance of technology and practical applications. At the same time, it is production and the needs of production that exert a decisive influence on scientific development. The technical level of production governs the extent to which science is utilized and the degree to which the technical base of production is prepared to apply new scientific ideas. Moreover, the material and technical basis for production also creates the material basis for scientific research and decisively influences the quality of scientific experiments and the extent to which science is industrialized. Modern science is equipped with highly complex technical equipment, including experimental nuclear reactors, facilities for the study of thermonuclear synthesis, synchrocyclotrons, and powerful radio telescopes. The intensive development and interaction of science and technology and the transformation of science into a primary productive force constitute one of the most important aspects of the modern scientific and technical revolution. Changes taking place in all spheres of current technology are based on scientific discoveries and advances. Technical means, systems, equipment, and production methods are undergoing fundamental changes. A transition is being made from the mechanization of individual labor processes to the integrated mechanization and automation of production as a whole and to extensive utilization of automatic control systems using computers. In line with the progress of science and technology, total electrification in the USSR has been carried out, and a new source of power for industry has been created through efficient use of traditional and new forms of energy. Mechanical methods of processing materials have in many cases been replaced or supplemented by more refined processes that make use of the latest achievements of physics and chemistry; these include ultrasonic, high-frequency, and laser processes, electron discharge machining, and other forms of processing. The development of bionics has made it possible to use biological methods efficiently in solving engineering problems and to apply lessons drawn from the study of organic life to various areas of technology. Biotechnology has developed rapidly, making possible various biological techniques for obtaining many products and substances, for example, in the production of protein foods, enzymes, and vitamins. The progress of chemistry and chemical technology has made it possible to change the properties of natural materials, produce a wide range of synthetic materials, and speed up production processes, thus increasing labor productivity and improving the quality of industrial production. The intensive development of natural and applied sciences enables man to gain an active knowledge of the microcosm, expands the scope of human activity, makes space exploration possible, and leads to practical use of space technology in the national economy. Progress in space research is an example of the fruitful interaction of science and technology and of the way in which joint development enriches both. The creation and development of space technology have stimulated progress in the applied sciences and allied branches of industry, particularly radio electronics, automation, manufacture of precision instruments, and materials science. Space technology has also benefited the natural and social sciences, giving rise to entirely new fields of study, for example, space physics, space biology, and space medicine and those aspects of philosophy, psychology, and law dealing with outer space. In precisely the same way, the development of data-processing and computer technology has drawn a whole complex of sciences into the study of communication and control processes. As a result, many general scientific problems have been posed, including problems in information transmission and the interaction between man and machines. The interaction between science and technology is one of the most important conditions for scientific and technical progress and for social development as a whole. Technology and socioeconomic conditions The development of technology depends on the system of social production. The rate of technical progress is governed by socioeconomic factors and by the correspondence between production relations and the level of development of the productive forces, in which technology is the element most subject to change. In the history of technology there have been many instances in which production relations conflicted with the development of the productive forces and hindered the appearance and application of new inventions. There have also been many cases in which production relations have corresponded to the level of development of the productive forces, thus fostering the rapid development of technology. Technology not only depends on the socioeconomic conditions in one or another social order for its development and acts as a revolutionizing element of the productive forces, but it also contributes to changing these conditions. The degree to which technology has developed determines to a significant extent the level of social development. Marx pointed out that economic epochs “differ not in what is produced but in how it is produced—by what means of labor.” Radical changes in technology bring about a chain reaction of changes in the economic and social institutions of a society. Thus, machine production created the conditions for an unparalleled growth in the productivity and socialization of labor and for the replacement of small-scale cottage production by large-scale production. However, in capitalist society the progress brought about by machine industry has been accompanied by increased social contradictions. Under these conditions, the use of technology, which is governed by the need to increase profits, leads to the destruction of many small producers of goods and is accompanied by increased exploitation of the working class, unemployment, and inflation. Machine production makes cooperative forms of labor technically necessary, and it creates the material preconditions for the socialization of production. The most favorable possibilities for the rational use of technology as the basis for scientific and technical progress in industry and agriculture come into existence under the conditions of a planned socialist economy. Socialism, as Lenin pointed out, is inconceivable without “engineering based on the latest discoveries of modern science” (''Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 36, p. 300). In socialist society, technology is a mighty weapon for easing human labor in every possible way and steadily increasing social production. The development of technology and progress in any sphere of technology are related to the intensification of the specialization of production and to the expansion of the international division of labor. Such development depends not only on socioeconomic features but also on the geographic, climatic, and other peculiarities of a country. The specific conditions in Great Britain, for example, determined the intensive development of shipbuilding and maritime and port technology. Special conditions fostered machine-building, mining, and metallurgical technology in the Federal Republic of Germany, electrical-engineering and radio-electronics technology in Japan, precision-instrument technology in Switzerland, and the technology of the lumber and pulp and paper industries in Finland. In the socialist countries that cooperate economically within the framework of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) branches of modern technology have developed successfully; they include power-engineering, mining, metallurgical, construction, agricultural, transportation, and printing technology, as well as the technology of light industry and the textile and food industries. The socialist countries, in particular the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic, have also provided significant technical assistance to developing countries. In the socialist mode of production, all scientific and technical advances are used to develop the productive forces and satisfy the constantly growing material and cultural needs of the workers, thus creating the best opportunities for the development of technology. Scientific and technical progress in the socialist countries constitutes the material foundation for a constant increase in the efficiency of social production. It contributes to the creation of new instruments of labor, materials, and production processes and brings about qualitative changes in the structure of production. This, in turn, serves as the source of expanded socialist reproduction, the growth of the national income, and the systematic rise in the material and cultural standard of living. The influence of modern technology on society is not limited to the areas of material production and science, although these continue to be the principal areas affected. For example, the development of military technology and especially of strategic weapons determines important aspects of government relations and is reflected in national economies. The educational system, culture, and everyday life are transformed to a considerable degree by the impact of constantly developing technology. The cinema, radio, and television have given rise to new art forms and have exerted a profound influence on human culture in general by making culture accessible to the masses. The appearance and increasing use of technical teaching aids, especially monitoring and training equipment and training simulators, have raised the efficiency of instruction in secondary and higher educational institutions, and facilitated the introduction of programmed learning. There has been a constant increase in the development of domestic technology, used to lighten the burden of many domestic chores and to add comfort to everyday life. Automated facilities in commercial and domestic spheres have become common. Domestic services that specialize in the sale and servicing of household appliances have appeared in many countries. Modern technology has stimulated the development of physical culture, sports, and medicine. For example, the use of lasers as surgical instruments (in quantum ophthalmocoagulators) has made possible the development of an important branch of medicine—ophthalmic microsurgery. Technology also influences an individual’s psychology and world view. The development of certain forms of modern technology has contributed to international technical cooperation. Cooperation is vital because of the complexity and high cost of such technologies, which necessitate joint efforts by scientific institutions in many different countries to obtain up-to-date scientific and technical results. Cooperation in the field of television has resulted in the creation of the Intervision and Eurovision systems. Scientific and technical cooperation in atomic energy is coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The socialist countries practice technical cooperation through such organizations as Intermetall (in the area of ferrous metallurgy) and Interkhim (in the manufacture of chemical products). In space science, there has been the joint Soviet-American flight by Soyuz and Apollo crews in 1975; international cooperation by the socialist countries is carried out through the Interkosmos program. Many major scientific and technical problems of the future, such as travel to other planets of the solar system, the development of global radio and television communication, and the creation of new types of medical equipment, require synthesis of the technical experience and scientific advances of many different countries. International cooperation in science and technology is an effective means of carrying out major programs aimed at solving the most important tasks of scientific and technical progress. (See''SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION and SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS.) REFERENCES Marx, K. ''Kapital, vol. 1. In K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 23, ch. 13. Marx, K. “Ekonomicheskaia rukopis’ 1861–1863 gg.” In K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 47. Engels, F. Anti-Dühring. In K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 20. Lenin, V. I. “Razvitie kapitalizma v Rossii.” Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 3. Lenin, V. 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